Sunday, October 6, 2013

Every
person who draws knows that there are two kinds of audiences – the cultured and
the philistines. One never ever knows who will fall into which category until remarks
are made about art.

Long ago,
at the recommendation of a well wisher, I took my spanking new portfolio of
illustrations enthusiastically to the big boss of a newspaper. The man's family had owned the newspaper for decades, he reeked
wealth within his wood panelled room. The boss flipped through my portfolio politely
and a trifle disdainfully declared, ‘who wants this sort of thing ya?’ Then he
called an editor and said dismissively, ‘give her an article to illustrate’. I
illustrated the article, I got paid many months later and that was all there was to
it.

Fast
forward to over a decade later, I went to meet the editor of an environmental
magazine at the Indian Institute of Science campus. I was directed to a modern
building full of light and air; the scientist who was editor of the magazine spoke
very knowledgeably about illustration; he said he wanted the magazine to be a ‘platform
for illustrators’ and he stated that the editors of the magazine ‘would like to build a
relationship with the illustrators’.

The
newspaper from years ago has over time reduced itself to a sensationalistic rag.
As for the environmental magazine, when one looks at the content, the design,
the quality of the printing and the visuals, the vision of the editors is apparent.